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Page 6 DTH Omnibus
Thursday February 21, 1991
They're intense, and they use trampolines
Phish
Friday, February 22, 1 0:00
Cat's Cradle
For ticket information call 967-9053
hish i5 Kannpnino anM Ytot
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J been for a long time. Their
kuuus are long overuue.
Coming from Burlington,
VtM they have expanded
throughout the northeast into the
south, and are now playing Colorado
and the West Coast. My first Phish
show was in 1988 at the Wetlands in
New York City, and although there
was a sizeable crowd, it didn't com
pare to their following two years later
when I was literally up against the
wall. It was so hot, people were near
fainting after an intense first set of
jumping up and down side move
ment of any kind was impossible.
Intense, near-fainting experiences
are common at Phish shows, even
when they aren't so packed. The band
.eps you up and running from the
minute they hit the stage until the
house lights come on. Just when you
think you might sit down, lead singer
and guitarist Trey Anastasio and
bassist Mike Gordon whip out their
trampolines for "Golgi Apparatus,"
and if you're really lucky, Captain
Zcio (drummer John Fishman) will
treat you to the vacuum song (played
on an actual vacuum. ) By then you've
been dancing for so long and hard, it's
pointless to stop, because t he second
they seem to slow down, the classic
crowd-pleaser, "Fee," is introduced
on Page McConnell's keyboards, and
slides out of Trey's guitar.
I actually can't think of one song
that isn't a classic. Their off-beat lyr
ics keep yoi essing and singing right
along. They will sing about anything
from a love triangle between a weasel
named Fee, a gospel singer named
Millie and a chimpanzee named Floyd,
to a love affair with a car, "the tires are
the things on the car that make con
tact with the road," and everything in
between.
Hamburger, BBQ, French Fries,
Tere Cuppard
(Unjiiucj-ffi
Phish has a cult-like following
reminiscent of early Grateful Dead
fans, and it gets bigger with every
show, as do the venues. They played
to a sold-out Capitol Theater in New
York over Thanksgiving. This was
their largest show by far, and it was
difficult to see them close up and
really catch the spirit that radiates
from them in waves, but it was no less
fun. Their changing songs and inter
pretations keep you flying no matter
how many shows you've seen or how
big they've been.
With Lawn Boy, their first offi
cially released album, the Phish tra
dition continues to get better. It's full
of the same fun and imaginative lyr
ics, the inspiration of which could
only emanate from the minds of the
men in Phish. Fishman plays the
vacuum on "My Sweet One," pledg
ing to the woman of his dreams, "I
love you honey oh yes I do, if your dog
or cat ever dies I'll buy you an ewe."
On "Split Open and Melt," Trey sings
trippy lines like "between dreams to
the gloom room among the seaweed
and the slime, down, down, down,
melt." It's hard not to bounce in your
room as you listen to "Bathtub Gin"
and they sing of kings who "storm the
hallway, they've climbed up through
the gate, they didn't mean to be im
polite, but they just couldn't wait,"
and the joker who "carries his martini
made of bathtub gin." The best line of
this song sums up the whole attitude
of Phish, "we all must laugh, cause
we're all in this together, and we love
to take a bath."
Lawn Boy is great music, so run
like an antelope to buy it at
Schoolkids. Also unmissable is Phish
live. They give an unreal performance
that you will have fun at because they
give you no other choice. Their show
this past week in Ithaca, New York at
the Haunt was blistering and this
Friday at the Cat's Cradle should be
just as amazing.
and more every night.
FRESH GRILLED CHICKENS CHICKEN CHOWDER
Call 942-GRIL jfi
- ' . 4 7 4 5
tor menu u to place your
hat or t-shirtfor
anyone with 15
chickens off of a
Chick It Out bag
box!
PART-TIME DRIVERS NEEDED
s
CQ
OPEN MON-SAT 1 1am -1 1 prmSUN
FRESH GRILLED WINGS
A sm,
Come sample an unusual dish at Cat's Cradle
da
(
orde
or
12 pm - 8 pm
CHICKEN CHOWDER
i
CO
Bastard child of The Qaily
Tar Heel Pretender to the
throne of the Independent
and the Spectator Replacer
of Joe Bob with 'obsequious,
sniveling, whining student
writers Official organ of KGB
repression Hip and cynical
journal of the American Dream